NBA Trade Grades: Desmond Bane traded to Magic

NBA Trade Grades: Desmond Bane traded to Magic

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there! However, we have a blockbuster trade! The Memphis Grizzlies have traded Desmond Bane to the Orlando Magic for an absolute haul of draft capital! Let’s hand out some trade grades!

Magic Receive: Desmond Bane

Remember when Jeff Weltman hinted at pushing the chips to the middle of the table for a “win-now” approach? Well, here we are!

There aren’t many shooters you will find that are better than Bane. He averaged 19.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists on 48.4 percent shooting and 39.2 percent from 3-point range last season. Over his five-year career, he’s canned 41.0 percent of his 6.3 attempts per game. Since he’s entered the league, that’s the fourth-highest 3-point percentage of the 79 players with at least 1,500 long-range attempts over that span–trailing only Grayson Allen, Norman Powell and (former Grizzlies great) Mike Conley.

Orlando needed 3-point shooting as much as any team in the Association. They were dead last in 3-point efficiency at 31.8 percent, 1.7 percentage points worse than the next-worst team (Wizards — 33.5 percent).

However, good golly miss molly did they give up a ton for Bane, who has yet to be an All-Star, let alone an All-NBA team. He does have four years left on his contract, and you could assume one of those first-round picks was to get off of Caldwell-Pope’s contract. But while Bane’s an excellent shooter, he’s not quite the level of creator that the Magic could justify using five total FRPs.

That’s an insane amount of draft capital, point blank. Is this really worth becoming a second-apron team over? I’m not sure.

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Grade: C

Grizzlies Receive: Cole Anthony, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, 4 First-Round Picks (No. 15 in 2025, 2026, 2028, 2030), 2029 first-round pick swap

Bane was excellent in Memphis and one of their pillars alongside Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. They weren’t going to give him away for free.

But Jaren Jackson Jr. was up for extension this offseason. Assuming he earned the full $147 million extension, Morant, Bane and Jackson would’ve allocated for roughly 68 percent of the Grizzlies’ cap in 2026-27. They still have plenty of team-friendly contracts with Zach Edey, Scotty Pippen Jr., G.G. Jackson, Jaylen Wells and Vince Williams all on rookie contracts. But time was slowly, but surely running out with Wells, G.G. Jackson and Williams all due for extension next offseason.

This was an offer that you couldn’t refuse. This is an overpay. This is what desperate organizations do. We know one of the four firsts is in the dead-middle of the draft; the other three first-round picks will likely fall in the range of 20-30. But this helps clear their books while giving them plenty of optionality on the trade market if they want to make a swing of their own. Not including the swap, Memphis can now trade up to eight first-round picks.

This is a home run for the Grizzlies, even though Bane was previously viewed as a pillar. Caldwell-Pope and Anthony are two rotation players who can be useful as well. Now, let’s see what Zach Kleiman does to upgrade after!

Grade: A

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